TLDR; The Ariya’s range “Guess-o-meter” scared me at first, only showing 167 miles of range at 99% state of charge. However, this was likely due to city driving from previous renters, and eventually, the EV did in fact get around 215 miles of real highway range.

The ride was smooth, and the Nissan Ariya easily connected to Apple CarPlay (thankfully, because the vehicle’s software was not super intuitive without CarPlay). The trunk also fit a large painting inside and successfully transported it to a collector’s house!

Charging performance and charging curves on DCFC was the low-light of the trip, as the Ariya never pulled more than 70-80 kW even while charging at 350 kW chargers.

In summary: A great car to commute to work or use around town, but not the most efficient or fastest option for road trips with a small battery and weak DCFC performance. Obviously, Ariya trims with larger batteries exist, but they will likely have similar charging performance until noted otherwise.

Nissan Ariya trims

We took the Engage for a road trip. Note, this is the lowest range trim.

What went well in the Nissan Ariya Engage

• Everything worked as expected! From CarPlay to back-up cameras, the vehicle was comfortable to drive and simple to figure out
• It under-promised, over-delivered in terms of range shown on the driver’s display
• Smooth driving experience with no issues and responsive climate control

What didn’t go so well in the Nissan Ariya Engage

• Slow DC fast charging with a peak of around 80 kW
• There was no battery or charging software on the main vehicle display in the center of the dash (at least that I could find!)
• The vehicle’s native software was not impressive in terms of planning charging stations or road trips. Still, apps on Apple are the best way to go when it comes to planning a road trip in an EV.

Our Nissan Ariya Engage charging stops

• Brooklyn, NY - Flo Level 2 station: Received exactly 6 kW in 1 hour from a 6 kW charger! How neat is that…..science!
• Wilmington, DE 350 kW EA station: Waited in line for 15 minutes, then charged from 20-72%.
• Arlington, VA - 350 kW EA station: Arrived in Arlington with about 11% battery, and charged up to 80% ahead of the trip back to Brooklyn, again receiving around 70 kW.
• Wilmington, DE - 250 kW EA station: Arrived with ~20% state of charge and charged to around 89% battery.

We arrived back in New York City to drop the car off with around 12% state of charge, and paid the Turo fee of $35 for the Turo host to charge the car.

Note, we did not have the chance to use the Autocharge+ Nissan x EVgo plug and charge features since we did not stop at any EVgo stops during our journey. Nissan advertises one year of unlimited EVgo charging with the qualifying purchase or lease of a 2023 Nissan Ariya.

Charging notes on the Nissan Ariya Engage

In general, charging on the Nissan Ariya Engage is a bit slower than expected. For level 2 home charging, the onboard charger of the Ariya accepts a max of 6.6 kW, which would be a 32A charger.

For public DC fast charging, the Ariya Engage is supposed to accept a maximum of 130 kW meaning even on 350 kW charger one should expect peak charging speed at 130kW, at least for 5-10 minutes. The reasons why we did not get that speed could be:

• The battery was not pre-conditioned (we are not sure this feature exists)
• We plugged right after driving (seems like we may have had to wait, weird!)
• The weather outside was cold (it was in the 50s so should not have been an issue)

In our experience, the Ariya Engage only accepted 70-80 kW from a 350 kW charger, which is slower than industry average.

Full road trip in the Nissan Ariya Engage

Check out how the full road trip went in the video below!

Are you interested in a Nissan Ariya Engage?

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When deciding on a home charger, make sure it is compatible with your electric car and meets your charging needs. Read our blogpost on selecting the best home EV charger based on your EV make and model for more insights.